Beach Days

Chapter 14 - Trust Issues

Abby Cole ladies and gentlemen^

Max turned up approximately ten minutes later. I jumped up at the sound of him banging on the door.

I sprinted downstairs and pulled the door open. Max was soaking yet again, shivering, but this time it didn't soften me one bit.

I grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged him into the house.

I tossed him a towel.

"Thanks." he grinned.

I ignored this and stood in front of him as he dried himself with a towel.

"Did you find your phone?" I asked.

I wanted to figure out just how good a liar he was.

"Yup." he said without hesitation. "You will not believe how much my mum yelled at me when I finally called her." He added, laughing.

 I studied his face. Nothing, no nervousness in his eyes, no twitch, and he met my eyes effortlessly. This guy was a pro.

I studied him for a few more seconds, coming to the conclusion that he had to be one of two things.

Either an agent or a Dark.

The Darks were an organization of terrible people. They trained like agents, and they were incredibly dangerous.

The Darks' sole purpose was to conquer the world and the agencies out there were the only people in their way.

Anyway, Max could only be able to lie without a single sign if he had professional training, and had experience under pressure. Meaning he was either an agent or a Dark.

Both for his sake and mine, I hoped that he was an agent.

I gave a curt nod to Max before exiting the room, leaving him to change.

Abby and I would have to keep an eye on him. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed likely that Max was an agent.

I recalled him almost beating me in the swimming race the first day, his strength as he effortlessly lifted me on that cliff.

Then I thought to the knife he twirled on his hands expertly right before cutting the dolphin free, the mysterious wind that helped me fight the shark.

I remembered his smell of rain, and, most importantly, the gold watch glingting on his wrist that he never seemed to be seen without.

Unless I was very much mistaken, Max Trelle was an agent and his power had something to do with the weather.

Or he was a Dark and the universe had decided to have a laugh at my expense again.

I shook my head and headed up the stairs to the room Abby and I shared.

I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to stay cautious.

My phone started buzzing and I grinned at the photo of Abby pulling a funny face.

"Yo." I said, jumping onto the bed.

"Hey, Grandma and I are still stuck in this stupid hotel. We can't go home yet the storm is still way too bad to drive in." Abby informed me. "You okay by yourself?"

I knew Abby was concerned that I would have flashbacks as she wasn't here to help me out with the concealer on my scars, but I was slowly getting used to touching my scars to apply it, if not actually look at them.

Besides, I had other issues to deal with. Mainly trust issues concerning Max Trelle, a boy who was way too good at lying for it to be healthy.

"Yeah I'm good."